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Marty Mason

 
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n7188u



Joined: 15 Nov 2015
Posts: 395

PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2022 11:42 am    Post subject: Marty Mason Reply with quote

Today I got a very emotional call from Marty Mason's wife to let me know that he passed away.

The reason I am posting this here is because some of you may know Marty's Europa story (he used to post in this forum) and it is a very important one for us having another Europa in the air today (my monowheel N11EU). But mainly I am posting because Marty dedication to this airplane became my inspiration to finish this Europa.

Marty originally purchased kit A291 that, after 17 years of dreaming that it would one day fly, took to the air last year as N11EU.

Marty bought the kit new back in 2004 but Europa USA went belly up before he got the complete kit. He had to slowly buy again all the parts he didn't get (including buying the wings from the UK). When I met him he told me he actually paid for his kit twice, talk about dedication! Life got in the way of building this airplane, as it happens, and years went by. But he never lost hope of being able to build his beloved Europa one day.

At one point both age and health reasons prompted him to donate his kit to an EAA chapter hoping that they would use it as a youth build program and get it built. This didn't happen and the EAA chapter decided not to build the kit and instead sell it to finance an RV-12 build.

I bought Kit A291 from the chapter. Before going to Atlanta to pick it up I researched the original owner of the kit and that is how I met Marty. I never met anyone so enthusiastic about an airplane design. He loved the Europa. He actually helped me by combing through his house and finding parts that were misplaced. The end result is that the airframe kit was 100% complete after 13 years of storage and several moves!

During the build Marty and I communicated a lot. I would post updates on my EAA builders log and would send him an email every time I updated to let him know. His wife told me today that he would call her to go watch the new build updates every time they came up. We also talked over the phone often (most times he would call me).

He once confided that he was very happy I bought the kit and that his baby finally flew. He told me he basically realized this dream through me.

The partially unfulfilled promise is that I promised Marty I would take him up in the airplane. Because of the issues I had with he previous engine (and life, again) I never made the flight to Atlanta to take him up but I was hoping to do that this year. It is now too late. I will never forgive myself for not making this a priority. However, I do know that by finishing and flying A291 I probably brought Marty's some happiness and closure. I am glad for his drive to maintain this kit in good shape for so many years and for holding on to see it take to the air.

His wife told me today: "He is now up there looking after you every time you fly his Europa". And yes Marty, this is your Europa.

Chris


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